1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a piano lift and dolly for moving a grand piano, such as a full grand or baby grand piano. The dolly and lift slide under the piano and raise the piano off of the floor a sufficient distance to permit it to be moved around on the dolly.
2. Description of Related Art
A grand piano weighs approximately 1,000 pounds. They have three legs with wheels for each of the legs. This permits the piano to be moved around on smooth surface floors. Although the piano can be moved across smooth floors on thee wheels, any crossing over of gaps in the flooring will apply great stress to the legs of the piano. The legs are not designed to withstand such stress and frequently break as a result. Since piano wheels are typically hard surface wheels, made of metal for example, and since they are of a relatively small diameter for aesthetic reasons, a gap in the flooring of 1/8-1/4 inch can create a barrier that cannot be bridged by such wheels. Further, since the fear of breaking a piano leg is so great, the pianos are not generally moved any great distance on the wheels that are provided by the manufacturer, even if only being moved on a storage location to an on-stage site, for example.
One common way to move a grand piano is to set the piano legs on a Colson dolly. A Colson dolly is adjustable, having arms that extend outwardly from a centrally positioned base to which they are pivoted. Each of the arms has a wheel and a foot support at its terminal end for supporting one of the piano legs. When using a Colson dolly, the wheels provided by the manufacturer are removed and the legs rest directly on the feet at the ends of the arms of the dolly. In this manner, the additional height that the keyboard is effectively raised off the floor by the Colson dolly is offset by the lowering in height achieved by removing the wheels.
Despite the usefulness of the Colson dolly, there are disadvantages. First, the piano must be set on the dolly, which requires at least four persons or so to lift the piano. Secondly, the piano must either be unloaded from the dolly once it has been moved or permanently maintained on the dolly. If the piano is to be permanently maintained on the dolly during performances, transit and storage, the dolly is not available for use with other pianos. Therefore, one dolly per piano is required on a permanent basis.
Another problem with permanently maintaining the piano on the Colson dolly is that the dolly is not aesthetically pleasing from an artistic viewpoint. Therefore, the dolly is unsuitable to support a piano on a stage at a theater or the like. Further, although the height of the piano is lowered by removing its wheels and raised again by supporting it on the dolly, the keyboard height is not exactly the same, which bothers some pianists.
An additional problem is presented with the use of Colson dollys. Some artists believe that the piano legs should be in contact with the floor when the piano is played. With use of a Colson dolly, the piano legs rest on foot supports at the ends of the arms of the dolly, and only the wheels of the dolly actually engage the floor. Thus, the legs of the piano do not engage the floor to the dissatisfaction of some artists. Such dissatisfaction rises to the level of being totally unacceptable at times. To overcome this, once the Colson dolly is used to position the piano on a stage, several people must be available to lift the piano off of the dolly to set it on the stage floor.
It is also known to move a piano using a small forklift. The tines of the forklift are positioned under the piano and the piano is raised off the floor. Moving a piano in this manner requires a skilled forklift operator and is inconvenient in many circumstances. Thus, forklifts are not thought to be the best way of moving a grand piano.